2023 YCN Photo Contest

The result of the 2023 YCN Photo Contest was announced by the YCN Committee on the 4th July during the 2023 YCN Students Evening in Lyon, France. 

On the deadline of 1st June 2023, YCN received 27 photos so we can state that the call was very successfull!       

The 3 winners of the 2023 photo contest are :   

1. Ana Castellanos Aliaga from Instituto de Cerámica y Vidrio, Spain, for her micrograph “Along the shore of the peptide sea”. Decription : SEM micrograph of a thin ZnO film covered with peptides. ZnO film morphology causes wave effect when coated with peptides.
2. Amousa Nima from RWTH Aachen University, Germany, for his picture “Mxene Dragon Head”. Description : This colored scanning electron microscopy (SEM) image unveils the astonishing microstructure of Ti3C2Tx MXene, resembling the head of a dragon. Ti3C2Tx MXene were synthesized via the selectively etching in the mixture of LiF/HCl etchant.
3. Camila Ribeiro from University of Aveiro, Portugal, for her micrograph “When materials mirror nature”. Description : Optical polarized light image showing a complex ferroelectric domain pattern revealed in KxNa1-xNbO3 (KNN) single crystal, which consists of herringbone type (V-shaped) domains assembled in a regular and repetitive fashion.

You can find the 24 other contributions below.

1. Abid Ullah. Description : The fracture roughness with valleys around the grain boundaries is observed in the Cu2O ceramic sample fabricated at laser power 140 W.
2. Benedikt Winhard "TheDot". Description : It shows a perfect self-assembly of silica microparticles. Perfect because no coffee ring effect (CRE) is visible, but the microparticles assembled into a perfect hemisphere. We achieved this by simply printing very small volumes (a few nanoliters) of the suspension onto a sapphire substrate. This was a major breakthrough that allowed us to further develop the direct-write additive manufacturing process for higher dimensions (1D, 2D, and even 3D). Probably one of our simplest, but smartest discoveries! If you want to get more details about this project, here is a link to our publication: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0021979721003040?via%3Dihub 
3. Camille Zoude "Carbonate hooked burrs". Description : SEM micrograph of carbonates on the surface of a geopolymer. They are formed during aging in contact with carbon dioxide, giving rise to these small hairy balls which will grow over time until covering the entire surface.
4. Christian Bechteler "Mystic Crystals". Description : The SEM image shows silicon carbide (SiC) crystals buried under very thin carbon structures after pre-plasma flash sintering of SiC in argon atmosphere.
5. Daniel Valášek "Abandoned leaf on the cliff". Description : An impurity on a ceramic sample after grinding and polishing.
6. Danyal Naseer "Woven Nest". Description : It is a sol-gel synthesized α-alumina (Al2O3) microfiltration membrane. The lath-structured Al2O3 particles are grown during a sol-gel method under controlled conditions of peptization and thermal treatment. This unique structure exhibits special surface characteristics including high surface roughness and high oleophobicity. It is the first time that a lath-shaped crystalline structure of α-Al2O3 has been obtained without any additives. Thus, the fabrication of this unique-structured membrane by sol-gel synthesis may open a new window in the field of membrane filtration.
7. Suresh Bandi "Flower Bridge". Description : A pseudo-colored FESEM (field emission scanning electron microsocpe) micrograph of V2O5 nanosheets
8. Ester Yukimi Nagata "The Window". Description : The SEM micrograph depicts a 3D-printed scaffold of alumina coated with calcium phosphates. The presence of air gaps within the pores suggests excellent shape fidelity of the filaments, which can be advantageous for cell attachment in biomedical applications.
9. Jaime González Cuadra "Natural architecture". Description : They are zinc oxide nanotubes oriented in such a way that they look like the stalactites you find in a cave.  These nanotubes were synthesised by hydrothermal method using HMTA as a structure-directing agent to promote growth into nanotubes. 
10. João Vitor Campos "Spherulite crystal growth on Li1.5Al0.5Ge1.5(PO4)3 glass crystallized using flash sinter-crystallization". Description : This micrograph captures the unique crystallization process of Li1.5Al0.5Ge1.5(PO4)3 glass, which has not been reported to form spherulite crystals until now. We hypothesize that the AC electric field applied during the crystallization process is responsible for this unusual crystallization, which we find fascinating and worthy of further investigation.
11. José Sampaio "Fibonacci Layer-by-layer". Description : The following micrograph was obtained from a 3D printing gyroid structure in alumina produced via stereolithography. As a result, it is visible the layer-by-layer construction typical of the additive manufacturing process; and the continuous form of the gyroid periodic surface gave us the first impression of an endless spiral. Our first idea to express the image was the typical form of the golden spiral described by the Fibonacci sequence often observed in nature similar to several examples, such as snail shells, pine cones, storms, DNA or galaxies. This is one of the objects of study in the ongoing Master's dissertation “New Dental Prosthesis: Analysis and Simulation” from the Master student José Sampaio.
12. Kashif Azher. Description : Formation of columnar grains in TiO2 Ceramic at laser power 100 W and scanning speed 200 mm/s.
13. Katharina Rauchenwald "Freeze-cast crystal caves of SiOC". Description : The image shows polymer-derived, freeze-cast SiOC. Freeze-casting uses the phase separation of a structure directing solvent from the solid content for templating of porosity. Upon selective removal of the frozen solvent, pores are obtained as direct replica of former solvent crystals. By precisely choosing solvents and controlling the thermal gradient, porosity can be controlled in its size, orientation as well morphology. In this shown case, a binary solvent was used - leading to bimodal porosity as a result of two solid solvent phases. This unique pore morphology looks like caves where something could be hidden in, catalytically active centres for instance. This material is currently investigated as catalyst support for CO2 conversion processes to turn CO2 into usable goods.
14. Levent Karacasulu and Mattia Biesuz "Silica rainbows". Description : Optical microscope micrograph of silica from organosilicon polymers on a soda-lime silicate glass
15. Mariana Almeida "Geopolymer". Description : You may think you are looking at fresh sausages just grilled... But in reality these are geopolymers incorporating high levels of residues (fly ash from biomass burning and red mud from alumina industry) produced by additive manufacturing - Robocasting - to remove pollutants from wastewater
16. Marzieh Ghadamyari "The Milky Way of Glass Microspheres". Description : This is a glass microsphere that needs a long way to produce. Short summary of Preparation : First the Sol-Gel method, Second  Flame synthesis (As a precursor powder for flame synthesis, a narrow fraction of calcined powder was used. This fraction was obtained by passing the prepared product through sieves with 40 and 25 µm mesh size openings respectively. After the powders had been prepared, they were introduced into a flame composed of methane and oxygen that had a temperature of at least 2200°C. Here,  particles were melted, and then they were separated. To get rid of any organic residue that was left over, the glass powders were finally heated for four hours at 650 °C.)(This is an exact paragraph that I put in my article it is so close to submission)
17. Narayan Sahoo. Description : direct laser writing of zirconia(3Y-TZP) , 16 lines crossed pattern, superhydrophilic surface. 
18. Salih Cagri Ozer "Jason Voorhees". Description : A porous TiC particle which looks like the villain Jason Voorhees from the famous 1980 slasher movie Friday the 13th . Image taken with Zeiss Supra 50 VP, SE-imaging with mixed BSE signals.
19. Salimkhani Hamed "The micrograph of thermally over-etched Na0.5Bi0.5TiO3-based solid solution resembling Autumn. This micrograph is called micro-autumn". Description : The NBT-based relaxors show promise as potential alternatives to lead-based toxic materials in multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs). However, for these materials to be economically viable, the electrode materials, typically composed of platinum (Pt) or palladium (Pd), need to be replaced with base metal electrodes like copper (Cu) or nickel (Ni). Consequently, the initial step involves reducing the sintering temperature of the NBT-based material using sintering aids below the melting point of the base metal electrode, such as Cu. The micrograph illustrates the melting and rapid cooling (precipitation) of the sintering aids caused by thermal over etching.
20. Simão Santos "Ceramic Singularity". Description : This image depicts a channel of a Ceramic 3D printed structured part. The part, which was designed by me, was manufactured by a DLP printer and a photosensitive alumina-infused resin. The combination of this technique, material, and a sintering cycle originated a porous alumina structure. The image was captured using SEM.
21. Sonali Jamale. Description : These are the debris from the sliding wear of boron carbide against silicon carbide ball in dry sliding conditions.
22. Subhadip Bhandari and Anna De Marzi "Curious Pores". Description : The pores inside the grains stare at each other in astonishment and curious about the unusual situation that has led them entrapped inside the grains. This is a SEM micrograph from a polished and thermally etched cross-section of UHS (Ultra-fast high temperature sintering) sintered 3D printed sample. The observed poreentrapment inside the grains is quite usual for such ultra-fast sintering techniques. Conventional sintering methods, such as slow heating rates and prolonged dwell times at elevated temperatures, helps in removal of pores at the triple junctions through mechanisms like vaporization and surface diffusion. In fast sintering, these pore removal mechanisms may not be fully realized, resulting in pore entrapment. Moreover, in the final stage of sintering, the grain grows rapidly and such entrapment occurs when the grain boundary migration rate is sufficiently higher than the pore diffusion rate. This micrograph was captured using FEI Quanta 200 ESEM, Eindhoven, The Netherlands
23. Sylvain Fournier "Strontium Aluminates leaves growing in a valley of Ceria-doped zirconia". Description : This micrograph has been taken on the surface of a sample printed by stereolithography. The focus is made on a valley on the side of the sample, typical of layers created by this additive manufacturing process. The hexagonal platelets coming out of the surface were formed during sintering and allow bridging/crack-deflection mechanisms.
24. Vojtěch Mařák "Sydney Opera House". Description : Surface artifacts on aluminum tungstate.